


Love's perfect ache

by quakefalcon



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb, M/M, The Fall - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:48:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26569063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quakefalcon/pseuds/quakefalcon
Summary: "His whole body had been aching for Hannibal for so long and so entirely that it was a miracle it hadn’t consumed him over the years.It was so easy to sink into him, to ease the ache with a new one as he tried to claw a space for himself inside Hannibal while the man held him on the edge of a cliff, the smell of blood heavy on the miraculous air filling their lungs. "
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Love's perfect ache

**Author's Note:**

> i just watched hannibal for the first time and simply couldn't get them out of my head...  
> uhm, small disclaimer: i'm not a native english speaker so if this is a mess don't blame me for it, blame my english professors in college who are good for nothing lmao

Will was embarrassed by how long it took him to actually _understand_. He had thought he had Hannibal all figured out and yet the truth underlining it all had escaped him for years. In hindsight, the signs were all there. Oh, how many signs that Will had let slip through his fingers like water...

Looking back, the tension had always been there, a fragile and yet somehow sturdy string hanging between them, hanging them together, wrapped around both their necks and keeping them just out of reach but achingly leaning towards the other. It was a push and pull that seemed destined to be endless. The string between them would always drag Will orbiting around Hannibal again, no matter how much space he tried to put between them. It was useless, he now knew, because the more he tried to push away the tighter the string wrapped itself around his throat, so sharp he could feel it cutting into his skin, so real that he could see the blood come up in tiny pinpricks before sliding down his collarbones to seep into his clothes. He had been suffocating for three years without him, trying to cut out some new lungs for himself with a new family, more dogs, more normal life. Meanwhile, Hannibal had stood unmoving behind him, waiting and suffocating with him.

All this was why he felt mortified at himself the exact moment the question had left his lips.

“Is Hannibal… _in love_ with me?”.

Pity had flashed on Bedelia’s face for a fraction of a second and he knew they were both thinking the same thing.

_That is a really really stupid question._

Bedelia’s final question had left his mind reeling, the weight of his wedding ring suddenly overbearing.

After all, the answer had been yet another simple _yes_. His whole body had been aching for Hannibal for so long and so entirely that it was a miracle it hadn’t consumed him over the years.

It was so easy to sink into him, to ease the ache with a new one as he tried to claw a space for himself inside Hannibal while the man held him on the edge of a cliff, the smell of blood heavy on the miraculous air filling their lungs. It was just as easy as sinking in the darkness over the edge, a more peaceful way of falling than theirs had been.

Hannibal’s hands clung to his waist as the body of water beneath rushed up to meet them and Will closed his eyes, wondering if he was imagining Hannibal’s dry laugh barely resounding over the wind screaming in his ears.

He briefly passed out as the impact with the water rattled him, but the cold brought him back to consciousness enough to feel Hannibal wrap himself around him even tighter, dragging him down, down, down, into the depths of the sea. He knew his body was fighting to stay alive for its last time. He knew he was on borrowed time and that the end was here now.

Will opened his eyes again to see his breath being pushed out of him into bubbles floating above, with a hazy streak of their red blood hanging above them like a halo. A desperate impulse drove him to seal his lips over Hannibal’s into a kiss just before darkness drowned his field of vision and his mind fell into oblivion for one final time.

His last thought was about how fitting, how delightfully appropriate an end this was for them.

Giving in to the pull, breaching the distance between them had only succeeded in wrapping the string even firmer around their necks, severing their heads from their bodies in one clean cut.

As endings went, Will couldn’t have thought up a better one.

**Author's Note:**

> hope this didn't hurt to read as much as it hurt to write... even though it took me less than an hour and yeah, you can see that since it's really short. it's literally me dumping my feelings over the finale as quickly and as far away from me as i can lol. also i was very tempted to tag this as first kiss but then after a good chuckle i decided not to be an asshole.  
> every kudos you leave is one more pet my cat receives and comments are worth 100 kisses on her forehead. <3


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